Car roof



1929- c. D. BONSALL 7 3 CAR ROOF Filed July 25, 1927 8M bvvmvroe:

J//s A7- TORA/EKS.

Patented Oct. 22, 1929 v UNITED STATES v AENT OFFICE CHARLES DAVID BONSALL, OF PITTSBURGH, PENITSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO 1?. H. MUR- PHY COMPANY, OF NEW KENSINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN- GAR ROOF Application filed. July 25,

This invention relates to all-steel, single course car roofs composed of heavy-gage self-supporting roof sheets which extend from side plate to side plate and have their ends rigidly secured thereto and are rigidly secured together along their side margins by raised hollow weather-proofing seams which function as carlines.

The principal object of the present invention is to increase the strength and rigidity of the above type of roof by strengthening and stiffening the seams thereof. Other objects are simplicity of construction, ease of assembly and compactness of design. The invention consists principally in strengthening the upstanding hollow seams of the roof by means of metal reinforcing strips located inside of said seams and rigidly secured flatwise to the tops of said hollow seams and to each other; it also consists in making the reinforcing strips for each seam of regularly varying lengths With the longest strip d1sposed uppermost and in contact with the top wall of said seam; and it also consists 1n the parts and in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing, which forms part of this specification and wherein like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur,

Fig. 1 is a transverse section through a metal car roof embodying my invention, the section being taken between seams;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section through one-half of the roof, the section being taken along one of the roof seams; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-section through one of the seams at the ridge on the line 3-3 in Fig. 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, my invention is shown in connection with an all-steel, single-course car roof comprising Z-bar side plates 3, which are arranged with their webs horizontal and with their inner flanges, projecting upwardly. Heavy gage metal roof sheets 4 extend transversely of the car from side plate to side plate and are provided with depending eaves flanges 5, which overhang and are riveted or otherwise rigidly secured to the upstanding inner 1927. Serial No. 208,206.

flanges of the Z-bar side plates. The roof sheets slope downwardly from ridge to caves to form a hip or arcuate roof and are provided along their adjacent side margins with raised rebent flanges 6 which are lapped and rigidly secured together to form hollow upstanding seams A- which function as carlines.

As shown in the drawing, the roof is braced and stiffened at the side plates by means of an angle-shaped knee brace 7 located at the eaves end of each seam and arranged with one flange rigidly secured flatwise to the undersides of the body portions of the sheets on opposite sides of said seam and with the other flange rigidly secured flatwise to the inner face of the upstanding inner flange of the adjacent side plate. As shown in the drawing, the hollow seams are curved downwardly at the eaves and merge into the plane of the body of the sheets where they are turned down to form depending eaves flanges. V I Running boards 8 extend longitudinally of the car at the ridge and are supported on the lateral top flanges of Z-shaped running board saddles 9 whose base flanges rest on the tops of the hollow roof seam and are riveted thereto.

Additional strength and rigidity are imparted to the roof by means of a series of metal reinforcing strips 10 which are located within each of the seams A and extend longitudinally thereof and are rigidly secured fiatwise to each other and to the top of said seam by a row of rivets 11. As shown in the draw-- ing, the reinforcing strips for each seam are of regularly varying lengths superposed one upon the other. The strips are arranged in each seam with the longest strip uppermost in contact fiatwise with the underside of the top wall of the hollow seam throughout the a stresses to which the roof is subject in practice. It is noted that the above arrangement provides additional strength at the ridge and a maximum thickness of metal at the ridge which eliminates the tendency for this portion of the roof to bend or buckle.

The hereinbefore described arrangement is applicable to roofs having side plates and seams of various sections; therefore, I do not Wish to be limited to the exact side plate and seam construction shown and described.

What I claim is:

1. A metal car roof comprising load-sustaining roof sheets connected by hollow seams, and a reinforcing strip extending longitudinally of each seam inside thereof and rigidly secured thereto.

2. A metal car roof comprising metal roof sheets extending from eaves to eaves and rigidly connected by hollow seams which function as earlines, and a series of metal r'einforcing strips located within each of said seams and rigidly secured flatwise thereto and to each other.

3. A car roof comprising metal roof sheets extending from eaves to eaves and connected by hollow seams which function as carlines and'a series of metal reinforcing strips lo- ,cated within each of said seams and rigidly secured flatwise thereto and to each other, successive strips being shortened.

4. A single-course metal car roof comprising load-sustaining roof sheets which extend from eaves to eaves of the car and are rigidly connected by hollow upstanding seams which function as carlines, and a series of metal reinforcing strips located inside of said seams and rigidly secured fiatwise to the top walls thereof and to each other. 7

Signed at New Kensin ton, Pennsylvania, this 20th day of July, 192

CHARLES DAVID BONSALL. 

